ScoreDoomST 0.97c2 Guide & F.A.Q.

Intro

ScoreDoomST is a Multiplayer Client-server port of ScoreDoom using the
Skulltag v97c2 source release.
ScoreDoom has primitive multiplayer capabilities, and it is very
cumbersome and inefficient for internet
gameplay, ScoreDoomST was created to fix that.

For launching servers, and browsing online games, ScoreDoomST comes with it's own tailored version of IDE called IDESD.
(Many thanks to bond for kindly creating this for ScoreDoomST)

ScoreDoomST has a *fairly* permanent Master Server at 99.67.224.186 (port 15300). Though you may run your own Master Server thank's to Ghostly Death's GPL Skulltag Master Server

(Please see the link above and the Gameplay Summary Section below to
understand what ScoreDoom/ScoeDoomST is all about.).

IDESD will first need to be set to look for scoredoomst.exe in the Options tab
Also, for the SDST Add-On Pack, which you should install in the same directory, you should
specify the directory in Option/Wads where to look for the Add-On Pack as well as other wads.

The clients should be started with IDESD too.
You may broadcast your server to a Master Server, or share your hostname/IP to players and have them
add it to their 'Custom Server' list in IDESD Options.

Single Player is not supported (see regular ScoreDoom for that), and the
menus look just like Skulltag, but
the only game mode is 'ScoreDoom Cooperative' and the only votes you can
call are 'MAP', 'KICK' and 'POINTLIMIT'.

Restarting Games (Resetting Scores)

To restart a scoredoom game and set the points to 0, (say when new players join), a player must call a MAP vote (via Multiplayer->Call Vote menu) to restart the map or load a new map, Or a player with admin access can (re-)start the map themselves.

Winning

A winner is the player with the most points after a proper finale, the end of the last map in a server map rotation, or the first player to hit the point limit.

Add-on Pack Installation

Place the add-on pack in the same directory as the scoredoomst executable.
If you are running a server via Idese, specify the SDST-ADDONPACK.WAD as a PWAD.

ScoreDoomST Hosting Tips

Theoretically, ScoreDoomST can support up to 32 players. But typically more than 4 players
in regular Doom maps in co-op *may* be too much, with regards to available ammo, health and weapons.
Though you can compensate somewhat using DMFLAGS. It is recommended to use these DMFLAGS when starting
a server:
DMFLAGS
4 - 'Weapons Remain After Pickup'
DMFLAGS2
2-'Drop Current Weapon Upon Death'
64-'Double Amount of Ammo that items give you like in Skill 1 and Skill 5'
ScoreDoomST naturally uses more bandwidth than regular Skulltag due to the more intense & continual
nature of the scoring, so clients get updated much more frequently.
Playing with the Add-on Pack, with the more exotic & complicated enemies and weaponary means more
entitities being spawned which can eat more banwidth.
If you plan to play intense wads like scythe2 with the add-on pack with more than 2 players, it may
be better to have a machine solely running as the server, though your mileage may vary.
I noticed when playing intense wads with the add-on pack, even with one person, that the server was
much more stable if it was running on its own dedicated machine, as opposed to sharing the same
machine with a player.
Add-on Pack support will probably remain in 'beta' after the final release, so if running a server
with it proves to be unstable, trying running a server without the pack loaded.

ScoreDoomST Known Server Bugs

Something not fixed in SDST 0.97c2R5 was that the SDST server will crash, if the server stays on the
same map for more than 48 hours, and then a player joins.
This is a bug from the original Skulltag 0.97c2 code.
Its possible to write a bat script that rcon's into the server and periodically reloads the level if
there are no players. (though me fixing the bug would of been better ;-).
When playing intense levels with the add-on & bonus packs, often, players connecting during gameplay
in these levels will never finish connecting. Not sure what is causing this. Calling a MAP vote, or and
admin restarting the map may allow the player to finish connecting.

ScoreDoomST Add-On Pack & Bonus Pack

It is recommended to play with both the Add-On Pack and Bonus Pack together, as the Bonus Pack adds about 30 new enemies, and improves Boss Rush and contains other fixes for the Add-On Pack. Load the bonus pack after the add-on pack.

For those familiar with ScoreDoom, ScoreDoomST gameplay is pretty much exactly the same concept, except
for some minor differences.
ScoreDoomST is a 'cooperative' gametype where players score points and compete against each other
like with Halo's campaign meta-game, and old-skool arcade 'ccoperative' games like Smash-TV.
A campaign in SDST is from the starting map selected (via a VOTE or whatever) till the final finale,
(E1M8, E2M8, etc... or MAP30), or if the pointlimit or maplimit is met, whereby the game resets back to the starting map of the pwad/iwad/episode
(E1M1, E2M1, etc... or MAP01). Points are accumulated across the levels played over, until the final
finale is reached, and the points are reset. The player with the most points at the end is the winner.
Players can vote on a point limit between 10,000 and 1,000,000,000 points.
A map limit comes into effect when a map rotation is used. When the last map is ended, a winner is declared,
and the points are recycled.
Points are accumulated in a variety of ways:
* Damage done to monsters
* Monster kills (10% bonus of the orginal health of the monster)
* Extreme death kills (a further 10% bonus of the orginal health of the monster, on top of the kill bonus)
are when you take the monster's health down to more than negative it's initial health (certain monsters
explode into gibs)
* Secrets: Finding a secret first scores 250 points
* Map Objectives: Finding a key/skullkey first, and using it first scores 250 points. Reaching a level exit
first gives 100 points, and reaching a secret level exit first gives 200 points.
* Map items: Collecting a map item gives +5 points. Any item counted as a map item in Doom, is one that can
always be picked up, and goes towards the Item Count percentages at intermission screens. Items like blue
health flasks, armor helmet bonuses, radiation suits, artifact powerups, automap pickups, beserk packs,
infrared goggles etc... Not armor suits, health pickups, ammo or weapons.
* Barrels: Barrels give +5 points when destroyed.
* Chain Bonuses: If a player can kill 4 monsters in a very short time, they will get a small bonus of
+5 points or more (depending on the monster's starting health), which accumulates up to a +5 or more point
bonus, for every other monster killed after that, just as quickly. If the player can keep the rampage going,
they will eventually get a full Chain Bonus of +5 or more points per monster. (NOTE: Any extreme death bonus
will also be added to the chain bonus score for the killed monster, which essentially doubles the extreme
death bonus during chain bonuses.
* 'Most' Bonuses: At the end of a level, 100 extra bonus points are awarded to the player which has
the most monsters killed, has the most items found, has the most secrets found, and has most barrels blown.
*NOTE*: It is important to pick up barrels and items etc..., since it effects the next score:
* Monster Infighting Deaths and Monster Suicides: Since monster deaths due to infighting and suicides are ultimately
player assisted, there is a small bonus for these deaths too. *The player with the total cumulative count of monsters
killed, items found, secrets found and barrels blown is considered the most active player and gets a full bonus
of 10% of the orginal health of the monster killed this way.* Other players get a fraction of this score based on the
ratio of their cumulative count to the leaders. Though even players with 0 will get at least 1 point.
* Player Deaths: Player deaths due to other players carry no score penalty, though deaths due to monsters, suicide, and
the environment cary a -1000 penalty (points get set to zero and are never negative).

ScoreDoomST 'Most' Medals

A gold emblazoned 'K', 'I', 'S' and 'B' can show up at the left of the player's name on the intermission/finale
scoreboards. These all signify that the player got a 100 point bonus for each. 'K' = most kills within the level,
'I' = most items picked up within the level, 'S' = most secrets found within the level, 'B' = most barrels blown
within the level. Also note that monster death bonuses due to the environment, suicide & infighting favor players
with the greatest cumulative count in these categories, which can act as a powerup of sorts.